Korça is the next destination, after Vermosh and Valbona in northern Albania, to build a tourist centre and being one of Albania’s most popular tourist destinations it shows huge potential for the development of hospitality in terms of tourism and the development of tourist guides. The once maternity hospital building will be transformed into a visitor centre.
Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected this investment being implemented by the Albanian Development Fund, designed to turn the old building into a centre that promotes tourism development and the area’s cultural values. “This is the third tourist information centre following the initial centres in Valbone and Vermosh. It will be totally transformed from an abandoned building to a centre for tourism development, which will focus on coordination between the tour operators, capacity building and tourism promotion,” Director of the Albanian Development Fund (ADF) Dritan Agolli said.
Korça Mayor Sotiraq Filo welcomed this ADF initiative, saying tourism is a very important sector for the local economy in Korça. “There is a growing number of visitors who choose Korça as their destination and I am confident that we will add a new asset to the tourist infrastructure,” Filo said.
The modern building will feature not only visitor rooms, but also workshop and conference halls, as well as a restaurant. “A coordinating operator among the private operators is essential, as certain tourism products and services require cooperation. Establishing cooperation among the private operators is not an easy task, so this business model, which is actually a public state-owned operator, has the potential to fill this gap in developing guides or joint business services,” said Defence Minister Niko Peleshi, also lawmaker representing Korça district.
Construction of a bar-cafe is set to be built on the back side of the building and it will also include outdoor premises. “Having such a centre, it creates synergies and provides opportunities to further sophisticate tourism offer and it is an extra structure. I have visited the tourist information centres both in Vermosh and Valbone and they are really fantastic ones, even in terms of accommodation standards there, but they are more fantastic as gravity points. Of course, a significant number of hospitality and tourism structures have been built here in Korça, and I see that construction of many more structures is underway. All these houses here have such a perspective and this centre will serve as an address and as a point of reference,” PM Rama said.
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The city of Korça will also have a new bus terminal soon, a service that will transform not only the passengers transport, but also the city’s suburb where the terminal is located. As part of his tour to Korça, PM Rama stopped over at the construction site of the new bus terminal, which is set to complete in next few months and become a new development perspective for Korça suburb.
Korça Mayor Sotiraq Filo said this investment will have significant impact not only on local economy, but it will also help to ease the traffic in the city.
“It is a modern investment that will ensure higher service quality. The entire surrounding area has developed thanks to this bus terminal project and economic activities have completely transformed the area,” Filo said.
The modern bus terminal will set a new example in passengers transport, as well as in the transport of domestic and international visitors to the hospitable city of Korça.
